


(Maybe) We can reach the stars

by WhereDoesTheTimeGo



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode 9 fix-it, Fix-It, Getting Together, Kyan Reki Needs a Hug, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:22:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29942361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhereDoesTheTimeGo/pseuds/WhereDoesTheTimeGo
Summary: "Langa?" Reki spoke, worry seeping through his voice. He couldn't help but give a hesitant step forward, hands up and searching. "Langa, are you crying?"Or: Langa finds Reki after his race with Joe on episode 9 and they talk things out.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 16
Kudos: 368





	(Maybe) We can reach the stars

**Author's Note:**

> I am aware I have another story to update but I couldn't help myself with this two.
> 
> It's been a while since I've felt so much emotion and pain while watching an anime, so I had to get this off my chest. It's also an attempt at healing.
> 
> It's messy, it's unbeta'd, it was finished at 4am. Enjoy!

Reki's heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened. He immediately looked up, trying to catch Langa's expression.

"L-Langa?" He spoke, worry seeping through his voice. He couldn't help but give a hesitant step forward, hands up and searching. "Langa, are you crying?"

The other's head dipped even further and he clutched the skateboard tighter to his chest. Only then Reki noticed the back part of the board had been broken off. Probably racing Joe.

"I'm sorry." Langa muttered, then sniffled again. That shook any thoughts on Langa's board off Reki's mind. "I'm sorry Reki, it's all my fault."

The dread Reki had been feeling these days, unshakeable, like lead on his stomach, transformed for a few seconds into a sharp pang of pain.

"It's not…"

But Langa seemed to have unlocked something within him, maybe alongside the tears, so he kept going.

"I broke it." he declared, showing the board, to then bring it back close to his chest. His cheeks were tinted with tears, eyes downcast, defeated. "I broke the board you made me and I can't fix it back up. I broke- I broke our promise, and because of that you don't want to hang out anymore and I just- I keep breaking things, Reki, I keep breaking things and I can't fix them."

Reki swallowed down his wallowing, self-deprecating thoughts, to sigh. "I can fix the board for you, Langa."

There was a pause.

"Only the board?" He sounded wounded, almost desperate.

Reki looked down at the ground, wishing it was raining again, so his tears could at least mix with the water pouring from the sky. He wiped at his cheek rather angrily.

"You can skate against whoever you want." He snapped, then willed himself to relax, to accept he had been frustrated by his own lack of talent, taking it out on Langa. "I was being stupid, asking you to promise me something like that. Adam is dangerous, and… and scary. But you're the great _Snow_ , aren't you?" he huffed. "I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I don't care about Adam." Langa took a step forward and Reki backed down. 

It looked like the gesture hurt, right on Langa's face. Reki just kept hurting him, no matter what he did. His reflection on the school window, now his wounded eyes. All because Reki had been a bad friend, who couldn't even feel happy when Langa won a big race. Bitter because he couldn't even reach the damn star, because he couldn't keep up.

"I don't care about racing Adam." Langa repeated. "I thought it was about skateboarding, and racing better opponents and learning new tricks. But it wasn't, Reki, it was you."

Reki frowned. When the other noticed that his point wasn't getting across, he shook his head, and left the board on the floor beside them.

Langa had never been good with words, Reki knew. Not with explaining things, nor conveying his feelings. He was too blunt, sometimes to the point where it came off as rude. But he wasn't expecting him to grab Reki's hand and place it against his chest, either. So he couldn't shake him off in time.

"When I skate, I get this feeling in my chest. My heart races. It's amazing." Langa spoke, tightening the grip on Reki's hand. "It's just like it was with snowboarding, with my dad."

That, if anything, made Reki hesitate, and keep listening. Langa rarely brought up his dad. 

"But then all of this happened, and you were gone, and I tried to skate but it didn't…" tears dwelled on Langa's eyes, still trained on Reki's, still earnest to explain himself. "When you weren't there my heart didn't race, it felt empty, like when I tried snowboarding after my dad was gone. It lost all the fun."

Reki's chest swelled with a bittersweet feeling. He only wished he could be there for Langa, without feeling this way. Maybe it was selfish, but he couldn't just support others from the sidelines.

"I'm so sorry Langa, I can't just…"

They were both on the verge of crying at this point. Langa looked so heartbroken Reki wanted to disappear. But he needed to say this. Langa deserved at least an explanation.

"I can't just be there, all the time, supporting you, and Miya, and all the others when I'm so _behind_. You guys are all amazing, and really talented, and I can't keep up. I thought-" Reki wiped another tear with his free hand. "I thought I could just do it, be there for you even if I'm not _beside_ you, but I can't-" he tugged on their joint hands to bring them to his chest instead. "It hurts."

Langa frowned. For a few seconds he looked angry, to then settle on confusion. "You're not… you don't have to do that! Who said you had to be left behind? I want to skate _with_ you, Reki."

He sobbed. "Yeah, I- I know, but you're so _amazing._ You fly so high, and everyone knows who you are and I just- you're so much better than me. It's hard to skate with you and have everyone pointing out just how _bad_ I am in comparison. I don't think I can do it anymore."

Langa did look angry then. "I'll punch them."

Reki let go of a sharp, helpless laugh that mixed with his tears. "What?"

"I'll punch them if they say bad things about you." Langa repeated, determination sharp in his look. "I'll punch _you_ if you keep talking about Reki like that."

Reki huffed another wet laugh. 

"You're _amazing_ , Reki." Langa sounded so sure. How could he sound so sure? "You've always been amazing. You know so much about skating, and boards. You know about what's wrong with just a look, when I don't even understand half of it."

Reki sniffed, cleaning his nose on the sleeve of his jumper. He tried to believe Langa's words but it was hard, so he looked down at their feet. In a flash, he caught a sight of Langa's broken board. It was true; he could probably tell what had happened. He must have stepped on it when hitting the ground after one of those high jumps of him. Maybe even twice in a row, with how a piece had fallen clean off. His stance was too wide, as always, but the front feet was secured, and he had needed the distance between his feet to brace for the fall.

When he didn't say anything else, Langa continued. "You're also an amazing skater. You taught me all I know. And you do everything with so much passion, Reki. It's refreshing, how much you care. People just fall for you."

Reki looked up into Langa's eyes, surprised by the choice in wording. Fall for him? The other seemed to not have realized what he'd said.

"Miya has been asking a lot about you, looking sad, and even Shadow brings you up in conversation more often than not. Joe said I should come to you, to fix my board..."

"And what about you?" Reki found himself asking, voice hoarse with some kind of desire he couldn't quite place.

Langa looked in between smitten and saddened for a few moments, and Reki's heart raced. How had he missed that, before? The way Langa looked at him. Had it always been like this? How could he look at Reki like he carried the world, like he _was_ amazing?

"Skating isn't the same without you." Langa stated, eyeing up and down Reki's face like he was pleading. "I miss you."

Reki's lip quivered, tears threatening to spill once again. Couldn't he just have this? Even though they weren't on the same level, and maybe he didn't deserve to be by Langa's side, couldn't he just be selfish, and let himself have this? "I miss you too."

Langa hugged him. He let go of the hand he had been holding this whole time to pass both over Reki's shoulders and press him tightly against his chest.

Reki's head fitted itself into Langa's neck and he hesitantly hugged back. After a few seconds he clawed at the others back, crying against his shirt.

It felt as if Langa was mistaken, deluded. It would be hard for Reki to believe himself amazing, even if his friend told him he was, a million and one times. But maybe they could pretend, just for a while, that they skated side by side, if that meant he stopped hurting Langa. If that meant they didn't have to be apart anymore.

"I won't let you fall behind, Reki. I want to skate with you." Langa whispered into his hair. "You taught me a lot of things, and you were always there when I fell. I'm sorry if I wasn't there to tell you how amazing you are after every single trick. To teach you things, to help you get better. To punch whoever says bad things about you. I was so happy with how skating made me feel, that I didn't realize I wasn't being a good friend, and supporting you like you've always supported me."

Maybe Reki didn't need talent, maybe he could get by just with Langa's support. So he nodded against his collarbone. "I guess we can try."

"Yeah?" Langa sounded so excited. How could Reki refuse him?

"Yeah."

"I won't let you down, Reki, I swear." Langa gave a final tightening of his hug before he pulled back, grabbing Reki by the shoulders and looking at him with a wide smile that lit up his eyes. 

Reki felt something flare inside his chest. He liked Langa so much it made him dizzy. He was truly amazing. But having someone you admire look at you like _that_? Reki felt as if he were finally able to reach that graffiti star. Or maybe the stars themselves, up, above their heads.

Maybe he could trust Langa, for now. Trust him enough to believe his words and not feel so down anymore. Maybe, if Langa continued to make him feel like this, like he could reach the stars, the feeling would stick, and he could keep skating. Maybe it was Langa's turn to teach him something, to teach Reki how to feel amazing.

They had been looking at each other for a while, each lost in thought, when Langa shifted in his stance. He let go of Reki's shoulders to rub at his own nape.

"There's something else, I guess." he muttered, looking down, hiding his face.

Reki's stomach dropped. Langa looked nervous, so he assumed the worst. Maybe Adam was joining their little skating gang, or maybe S had been reached by the cops and they were all identified fugitives of the law. 

Any catastrophic line of thought left Reki's mind in a swish, however, when Langa looked slightly up and revealed a soft blush, growing high on his cheeks.

"I talked to my mom the other night. Because I didn't know who to talk to. About- um, you. And she said I had to be honest with my feelings if I wanted- if you…"

Reki's heart was beating so loudly against his ears that he could barely hear his own thoughts.

Langa kept on squirming, shifting from feet to feet and blushing oh so beautifully. So Reki resolved to ease his mind. He reached to take both of Langa's hands in between his, and stop them from fiddling with the rim of his shirt.

Langa looked up, surprised, as if Reki had just offered his heart out for him to take. It kind of felt like that; looking into each other's eyes and understanding.

"I like you, Reki."

Reki nodded, his own face feeling warmer by the second. He smiled. "I like you too."

Langa's mind seemed to need a few moments to process that.

"I mean, _like_ like you. _More than a friend_ like you."

Reki bit his lip and nodded again, "Yeah, me too."

Langa gaped and Reki gave a soft chuckle, feeling weightless. Their joint hands felt warm and comforting, the feeling of being reciprocated like a soft blanket surrounding them both.

But then Langa took another step forward, right into Reki's personal space, and their hands fell apart. Instead, Reki felt one of them come to cup his cheek.

His eyes were nearly closed when he heard Langa whisper. "Can I kiss you?"

Reki kissed him instead.

And he could only think that maybe, if they were together, they would be just fine. Maybe the could reach the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> I might get angry if this anime isn't BL after all, and it was only queerbaiting. But I will literally kill everyone in staff and then myself if Reki doesn't get a hug by the next episode.
> 
> All my homies hate Adam and those goddamned palm trees.


End file.
